Gregg Allman to Play Benefit Concert in New York

The Allman Brothers Band will play a benefit concert at the Beacon Theatre on July 27, one that will be exceptionally meaningful for [lastfm link_type=”artist_info”]Gregg Allman[/lastfm], who battled the disease for years. Gregg spoke about contracting the disease, the treatment and how he has changed his lifestyle since.

Allman revealed his struggles with recovering from Hepatitis C in a recent Q&A with Spinner.com, where he also revealed the upcoming benefit concert at the Beacon.

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“I actually caught [Hepatitis] when I was 20,” said the rock star in a Q&A with . “I was getting my first or second tattoo and that’s where I got it.”

The disease stayed dormant for thirty years before seriously affecting his body. He said he first started feeling very tired all the time, but it was only after an extensive check-up that doctors were able to diagnose the disease. He was immediately put on interferon for 26 weeks, and in June 2010 underwent a liver transplant. His recovery has since stabilized.

“The doctor says, ‘Your new liver likes you,'” he said.

Allman added that his lifestyle didn’t change too much, but some side effects linger from the pills he has to take.

“[The pills] Make your hands shake. Make your hair fall out,” he said. “Thank god my hair fell out in some means of a pattern, so it never really looked like it was falling out in clumps.”

The concert at Beacon Theatre is one of the many ways Gregg Allman is speaking out on Hepatitis C. He is one of the few artists to do so, despite several others contracting it, too.

“If someone had of come along just a few years earlier and told me, ‘Hey, Look! You should go get checked for this thing, ’cause there’s getting to be more and more cases'”, he said, “then I would have gone and got it checked and they would have killed it with the medication that they use.”

Besides the benefit, the first show for the Allman Brothers Band at the Beacon since 2009 with Eric Clapton, he says the concert will be just like any other Allman show.

“It’s at the Beacon, you know?” said the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. “I’m really looking forward to it and we will have you some surprises. Trust me on that.”